Charismatic

A scummy mouth breather tried to start a conversation on the bus with me, not in a “Nippy out this evening isn’t it?” type conversation baiter but he simply asks “Where do you live?”. Luckily I was able to deflect the question and ignored him with the aid of headphones. He gave up and went to talk to some schoolgirls sitting towards the front of the bus, they tried their best for the next half hour to ignore him as well. Then a lady got on and sat in the seat facing his and he touched her leg (pretending it was accidental, clearly not). She gave him a look as cold as liquid nitrogen and he got off the bus next stop.

Arrived at Hagley Park where you have to change busses, someone with a cigarette sparked up next to me waiting at the bus stop. He had tattered jeans, no shoes, was wearing a tattered old baseball cap teamed with a similarly unwashed looking t-shirt and was smoking roll-ups. I moved away to avoid the smell of unwashedness and stale smoke.

Then a Maori woman arrived who was clearly on P. She had that gaunt look, the inability to stay still and those flickering eyes. She had been dressed directly out of the Warehouse, latest style of board shorts and hoody…circa 5 years ago. She too lit a roll up cigarette and paced back and forth (I couldn’t escape the smoke now!) like an ADD child on smarties. She must have been on her way home to feed her CYFS checks because she had an opened box of cup-a-soup in her back pocket.

However then events took a turn for the better on my next bus, a young SE Asian man in a crisp white shirt and with a nametag on got onto the bus, he sat next to me. I spied his University card as he put his Metrocard away, he was a Medical student.

The strange paradoxes of public transport, mixing our best young minds with others who make you wonder if eugenics is really so irreconcilable with our inherent sense of morality .

Debbie2NZ

Charismatic,
My husband and I took the bus back from Hornby to Linwood (waited and age on the bus at the Parkside bus interchange) whole journey took an hour. I don't mind the 'all of human life is here' y'know, single mums, students, pensioners, men who whistle complete with tremble at the end of the note. However, what I do mind, after paying full fare is seeing other passengers being waived for their fare because they only had a twenty dollar bill at 7pm on a Saturday night. Other than that, Christchurch buses are pretty reliable. Even if the Saturday bus driver is returning to Britain after 6 years in NZ where he lived for 20 years previously (driving buses). Citing the earthquake as his reason. His 6 year old daughter and English wife agree with his plan to return.
I don't even mind the grumpy Friday evening bus driver who said he was hard of hearing, cited my accent and not knowing where a particular stop was on his route ! Priceless !

Charismatic

Have you ever tried to spend a $100 note? Shop assistants look at you like the spawn of satan. Outside of drug dealing I have no idea who uses them. Too tight to have propper till floats IMO.

Bo-Jangles

Oh lordy, I thought it was only me that had issues with scummy mouth breathers. Somehow they are always drawn to me.

I rarely venture into busy public spaces much other than work where most are respectable office types or the local shops, but had reason to go to the hospital the other day. I parked beside two soap-dodging sixteen year old mothers who looked like a right couple of heart-breakers in their mini-skirts and house slippers getting out of a car. They were both leaning into the back of the car, skirts showing their a$$es and fags hanging out of their mouths not six inches away from the faces of the various children they were lifting out of the baby seats. You might imagine the type, they couldn't let me pass without stopping to give me the 'evils'.

I only ever have seen two NZ$100 notes, one was given to us in the foreign exchange in the UK when we first came here and another I rescued from a UK visitor.

alanmacc

ok so im a bit dim .............. what is a mouth breather ??

alanmacc

$100 note ..... you lucky ***** the only $100 note i have is in my daughters monopoly set

On a side note for all us Chch people, you all probably know trannie willie, the guy who walks round chch cbd and has a radio planted on his shoulder shouting aimlessly .......... i passed him in Ricarton Mall with no radio ........ almost didnt know him

Charismatic

Urban Dictionary is your friend:

Bo-Jangles

Synonym; slack-jaw

johnht

Sorry, but couldn't resist thinking that the young SE Asian man might have been worried by the guy he sat next to who was checking out his name, id cards and credit cards

John.

Charismatic

Then I got off a night bus to go and see a friend, only a short walk up Manchester street at night...!